Natalie Morris Morris MC

Hey I just made up a new word! "joke-mails" those annoying e-mails that are just forwarded jokes from 10,000 people who obviously have more time than you do.

I was going through my personal e-mail a few minutes ago. It has taken me a while but I have managed to get control over the jokesters. Normally I will tell people to please take me off their list. It is so time consuming to even open and look at the e-mail, even worse is if you get drawn into the joke, you end up wasting a good 10 minutes at least.

Not to mention the risks you face every-time you open a forward of a forward of a forward. Who knows what that e-mail has picked up on it's way around the world wide web! 

However I have managed to pare my joke sending friends down to a few who have the same (sometimes bazaar) sense of humor I have.

Although at times they are a bit off this one just tickled my fancy. The whole joke talked about diets and finding excuses why to do what you want, like why eating red meet was better then eating a salad; because that's what cows eat, so it was just more efficient

However, here are some points for those of you with heart troubles:

The Japanese eat very little fat….and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
The Mexicans eat a lot of fat….and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

The Chinese drink very little red wine….and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
The Italians drink a lot of red wine….and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

The Germans drink a lot of beers and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

CONCLUSION:  Eat and drink what you like.  Speaking English is apparently what causes heart attacks.

Natalie Morris

www.morrismc.com

What a wonderful day! The sun is shining, the birds are singing and I am sitting in front of my computer - desperately getting through my e-mail!

I hope all you mothers out there had a wonderful Mother's Day. We spent the evening with my mother, co-owner of Morris MC.  We actually were pretty good about not talking shop at the dinner table for once.

Now back to my original post - My great idea for fundraising for environmental groups.

Here's where this came from, our local library - Cuyahoga County Orange Branch - had a plant exchange, people dug extra perennial plants out of their gardens, brought them to the library, and exchanged them with other neighbors. It was actually quite a bit of fun! I brought Lilies of the Valley, Day Lilies, Daffodils, some purple trumpety things, and some Mint. I cam home with some Ferns, May Apples, Lilacs, Wild Geraniums, Pachysandra, and a few others I can't remember off the top of my head.

I then took my dog Abby for a walk in the beautiful Cleveland Metroparks - Sometimes I just can't get over how lucky we are to actually have the Metroparks so close and easily accessible. As I was walking I had flowers on the brain, and started to see all the beautiful perennial plants that naturally live in our park systems. All of a sudden I realized that some of these beautiful flowers live in my yard and I have seen them as weeds instead of flowers. But why? They have beautiful little flowers, they and bright green leaves, if placed in a little plastic cup I would probably buy them at the local nursery…

BING BING BING!!!

OK so here is my fundraising idea. As naturalist who understand the way of the wild - or at least the parks - take a group of your employees, volunteers, family members, etc and find some wild perennials in the parks or woods, or whatever you protect. Of course you don't want to pull up every fern in the woods, but where there is an abundance of plants, where they may in fact benefit from a bit of pruning, carefully dig up a healthy number and variety of plants. Then carefully store them so that they will survive until your plant sale.

Regarding storage here are a few ideas I came up with:

1. Ask local landscapers/gardeners to collect and donate their plastic containers they get from the garden store
2. Ask the garden store to donate old, cracked, or discarded containers
3. Use old newspaper, make a funnel, mash the bottom - or carefully fold up the bottom - and make small cups for the plant, this will recycle and be biodegradable. All you need to do is cut some slits in the paper when you go to plant.
4. Use old plastic or paper cups, or old plastic grocery bags.

Now for the sale of the flowers/plants. As I had mentioned earlier, many people consider wild plants weeds, but there is no real reason to believe that. They are often just as beautiful, just not as well known. So when you go to market these plants you will need to also educate the people buying them. Each plant species should have a paper with  some pictures (what they look like when they come up, what they look like in bloom, and after bloom), sun requirements, soil requirements, when they bloom, etc. as well as any interesting tidbits that would make the plant more endearing - perhaps if they can be used for medicinal purposes, favorite food of butterflies, if they are edible, maybe even a cute story, etc.

Another idea I thought of on this wonderful walk through the woods was to bunch the plants together in groups. Some plants come up early, some late, some bloom for a long time, some only for a short time, some are tall, others short. If you grouped them together, drew up a little "map" as to where they would fit in together, it would give people a great guide when planting.

I know from my own yard that there are not many store bought plants that thrive in my woods, however on my walk I realised there are plenty of wild plants that thrive there, I just need to understand which ones. I know I buy plants every year, I also know I would much rather my money go to a good cause, I also know that educating people and bringing nature to them is a great way to get them involved in their environment.

If anyone decides to do this I would love to hear how it goes. I would also love to hear any suggestions and recommendations.

Thank you,
Natalie
www.morrismc.com

I've been a bit remiss on my blog lately. This is actually a good thing, our business is growing and I have been focusing on that instead of my blog, Linked-In, Twitter, and so many other social Medias.

 But one thing that I have noticed is the social media is actually working. About 15% of our visitors come from LinkedIn, as well as about 4% coming from our blogs (which only get updated a few times a month).

 Another interesting number is the 40% of visitors that are coming from Google's Natural Listings, compared to 20% just a few months ago. Some of this could definitely be due to the Search Engine Optimization of the actual site, but a big part of the SEO efforts in general is increasing Social Media. The links that get created using blogs, LinkedIn, Forums, etc are a great way to create inbound links to your site.

Here is another example of how social media works: I am working with the Cleveland Animal Protective League (http://www.clevelandapl.org) and they are at the end of a very intensive fundraising drive with Q104  (http://www.q104.com). One way that so many people have helped the APL throughout this event is by posting the information to their My Space, Face Book, LinkedIn, etc. Just by putting the information out there they are driving and educating people. There is no way the APL would be able to afford all the publicity they are getting form their avid supporters who are willing to just mention the event! Way to go!

Social Media is creating digital communities, where people can share their experiences and passions with other people. Use it to share information about your site as well as other sites. The same rules hold true on the Internet that they do in any other community, if you have something nice to say, please say it! However, if you have something not so nice, think about how other people will react to your comment before you post it.

 Don't forget to donate to the Cleveland APL - or go down and adopt a forever friend today!  http://www.clevelandapl.org

Thank you,
Natalie
www.morrismc.com